Image from Unsplash.com
Telford Angling Association are re-opening Apley Pool, but, we do need to add a public notice for all.
Apley Pool has been closed to angling due to very high readings of Cyanobacteria (Blue/Green Algae), which is, at high test readings, very hazardous to human and animal health.
PLEASE NOTE: There is still a risk to both humans and animals, and using the pool for fishing, or entering the pool or allowing your dog to enter the water is at your own discretion. It can cause skin rashes on humans, and sickness if swallowed. It is fatal to wild and domestic animals if enough is swallowed.
Any Illness to people or animals arising from using Apley Pool cannot be blamed on TAA, as notice of the risks have been given.
Control Measures
Please clean your hands and use sanitiser before eating and drinking. Ensure all nets are dried outside in the sun before using them again.
Argulus Mongolianus
As many will know, there have recently been a number of fish deaths on Apley Pool. Some of these are down to fish spawning events, when the fish are very stressed. It does not help matters when fish have to spawn in the warmer weather, when dissolved oxygen levels are naturally low in the water column. This is to be expected during every spawning event that takes place, and it's usually Carp, that get the brunt of the way nature works, sadly.
Even though we knew the above, the numbers of fish dying were too high for our liking, so we sourced help from the Environment Agency.
Following some tests on fish from the pool, it was found that there is an outbreak of Argulus Mongolianus in the pool. Many will have seen "fish fleas" before, as there are over 140 different genus identified to date. Argulus Mongolianus is a relatively new species to the list, and is now one of three known species we have in the UK. Somehow, it has managed to get to our shores, and watercourses from Asia.
This parasite prefers to live in the gills and mouths of Carp especially, and in large quantities, it can cause respiratory issues in the fish.
Control measures will be looked at and discussed with the Environment Agency before TAA can go ahead with what they recommend.
If you see any Argulus on our fish, please remove and kill them before putting the fish back in the pool, and treat any wounds with fish-care wound spray/liquid if you have any to hand.
Control Measures
To stop the spread of the parasite to other pools, and obviously not what has happened to Apley, please dry out all of your nets in the sun. Argulus is a small crustacean, and needs to stay wet. It will stay hydrated on wet nets, and transfer to other waters if control measures are not taken.
You can follow the "Check-Clean-Dry" procedure from the Environment Agency shown below.
More information on Argulus Mongolianus can be found here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ifm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Argulus-mongolianus-1.pdf